1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to interactive teaching apparatus and methods for teaching graphemes, i.e., letter symbols of an alphabet; grapheme names; phonemes; and phonetics and in particular, to such apparatus and methods which use a combination of visual images, color-coding, and sound and sound pattern generating devices. Further, the present invention relates to apparatus and methods combining educational and recreational features.
2. Description of the Related Art
Although often thought of and taught as separate disciplines, reading, writing (and spelling), and speech (i.e., phonetics) are not separate and distinct subjects. Instead, they are essentially inseparable components of literacy. Phonetics is the study of speech sounds, i.e., phonemes, and, generally, a teaching method by which students may learn to read, write (and spell), and speak a language correctly in the same steps. By using phonetics, students can learn to hear the different sounds in the spoken phonemes and words and to sound out words for more accurate spelling and pronunciation.
Almost any language may be taught phonetically. The English language, however, is one of the most difficult languages to learn to read and speak because the sounds of the graphemes vary, and there sometimes seems to be little apparent correlation between the graphemes or combinations of graphemes and the sounds produced. This apparent lack of uniformity of sound production often has led to learning by rote or by the memorization of complex rules, or possibly, a combination of both. Various attempts have been made to simplify and explain pronunciation. See Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary, 32-39 (1990). Nevertheless, because English is a predominantly phonetic language, it may be simpler and, therefore, preferred to teach English with phonics, i.e., the use of sound or the phoneme-grapheme relationships in teaching reading. As noted above, however, most languages may be taught effectively with phonics.
Phonics have been incorporated into teaching systems in a variety of ways. Color-coding has been used to distinguish between various groups of graphemes. For example, a color-coded symbol system has been applied to the graphemes of the English alphabet to indicate the different sounds of letters in different words and, thereby, simplify pronunciations. Another example is a vowel sound teaching device which uses color-coded letters and combinations of letters on overlapping wheels to teach word pronunciations. In yet another example, an educational device employs color-coded cards using three colors to aid in the teaching of the mechanics of reading. The cards are intended to help students learn the alphabet, i.e,, the system of graphemes associated with a written language, sounds of the graphemes, and word pronunciation skills. Nevertheless, these systems fail to provide an interactive, phonetic teaching apparatus for teaching graphemes, grapheme names, phonemes, and phonetics.
Electronic talking games and educational devices have also been used to teach spelling, foreign languages, and the like. An example of such an electronic talking game is "SPEAK & SPELL" manufactured by Texas Instruments which provides an audible stimulus, such as the pronunciation of a word, and requires the user to spell the word. In another mode of operation, the "SPEAK & SPELL" game requires a word pronounced by a machine to be repeated by the user via a keyboard, or requires the user to enter an unknown randomly generated word into the machine via a keyboard. If the user accomplishes this task with fewer than a prescribed number of errors, the machine acknowledges the user's success.
Despite these related art designs, educators have long sought to develop apparatus for effectively teaching the basic elements and mechanics of reading, writing (and spelling), and speech which would be suitable for use by children and adults. Preferably, such apparatus would be interactive and portable, so that it could be used by users with various skill levels, and teaching could occur at the pupil's own pace and pleasure. Further, such apparatus would preferably be suitable for use by immigrants and foreigners, who may have little or no previous experience with the language being taught, or for use by the mentally or physically disabled.